The Science Is In - More Guns Does Not Equal More Crime
Reviewing a 2015 study, it appears what we all believed was true, is indeed fact. The prevalence or rate of ownership of legal guns has no correlation to the rate of crimes, and specifically homicide, as discovered by Professor Gary Kleck PhD - an unlikely advocate of firearms owners.
Kleck spent his entire career at Florida State's University of Criminology, first as in instructor, eventually becoming a professor. He's authored many books and articles on gun control and is an active, contributing member of the US Democrats. One might think he'd be a big supporter of gun bans, but as a scientist and an academic, he must be guided by the evidence - and the evidence is clear.
Learn more about Dr. Gary Kleck
The Impact of Gun Ownership Rates on Crime Rates: A methodological Review of the Evidence
The purpose of this paper was to review 41 other studies that tested the theory that higher gun ownership rates causes higher crime rates.
He concluded that while technically weak research often supports the hypothesis that more guns = more death, strong research does not. In fact, he concluded the opposite.
"The central premise behind gun control as a policy to reduce crime
or violence is that gun availability affects rates of crime or violence. In particular, many scholars assert that gun levels affect homicide rates, primarily because use of a gun in attacks increases the likelihood that they will result in the victim’s death"
He goes on to review all studies on this subject and concludes;
"Why does gun prevalence not have a significant positive effect on
homicide? The most likely explanation is that (a) most guns are possessed by noncriminals whose only involvement in crime is as victims, and (b) defensive gun use by crime victims is both common and effective in preventing the offender from injuring the victim.
These violence reducing-effects of guns in the hands of victims may roughly cancel out the violence-increasing effects of guns in the hands of offenders, resulting in a near-zero net effect on homicide rates"
The science is clear and overwhelming ... legal guns in the hands of legal owners has a positive effect on the rate of homicide.
